An Unlikely Dream Come True
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Karly Mathis knows Clark Kent. She always has. But when he saves her from dying while she's doing some research in the Arctic, she's given a whole new definition of the boy she knew from school. Together, they will work side by side to stop Zod, and end up finding out more about each other that they never expected to find. Man of Steel-verse. ClarkxOC
1. Research Assistant

**Requested by** **mechagigan2004.**

 **My first requested story! Hope it meets your expectations!**

* * *

She saw him. She saw him every single day. Always from a distance, never speaking to him, but she saw him. She didn't know if he saw her, but she always saw him. He was quiet most of the time, but he seemed to be happy. Maybe that was why she never spoke to him.

Time passed, and soon they finished middle school, then high school. Still, no communication occurred between them. But she always saw him.

Once they both graduated high school, she lost track of him, but he kept crossing her mind every few days. Even when she got a new job, she wondered what had become of him. Was he working? Did he have a wife and kids? Had he gotten into an accident at some point and didn't make it?

She wasn't sure why she thought about him so much or why she had never even talked to him. They barely even made eye contact all those years of school. So why was it that she couldn't get him out of her mind?

Karly Mathis was two IQ points shy of being a genius. She aced all of her college exams and almost right when she graduated from school, she was employed in the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She started off as an intern, but quickly moved up in the world over the next five years.

Karly was also a very pretty woman. She had straight brown hair that reached just below the middle of her back which she usually kept up in a half-ponytail with her hair parted to the left.

A couple of her co-workers had flirted with her before, but she had made it clear that she was focusing on her work and didn't want to be involved with any of them. Besides, she knew those guys were only flirting because they liked the way she looked. She wanted someone who admired her for who she was, not what she looked like.

On what was supposed to be an ordinary day, a visitor appeared in the Defense Sciences Office where she worked who would change everything.

"Karly," one of her coworkers, Shane, said quietly to her. He pointed out the older man walking into their workplace. "See him? That's Dr. Emil Hamilton. Word on the street is he's looking for a new assistant to become a research technician with him. Everyone wants the position. This guy is the real deal."

"I thought he always worked alone," Karly said.

"He has. Until now."

Karly looked at Dr. Hamilton. He wore black-rimmed glasses and he had curly graying hair on a balding head. While he looked rather quiet, he seemed nice enough and she had heard people talk about him and his job all the time. Nearly everyone in the agency wanted the chance to work with him.

An email was sent out to all the workers in each branch of DARPA with the information on how to apply to become Dr. Hamilton's new research assistant. An application form was attached to the email that was to be turned in within the week. All of the applications that were accepted went on to have an interview with Dr. Hamilton. By the end of the month, Dr. Hamilton would contact the lucky person who got to earn the title of 'research assistant/technician'.

When Karly clocked out, she went home and printed out the application form. As she sat on the couch, she just stared at the blank form wondering if she should fill it out or not. It was a huge commitment and she was sure a lot of people wanted the position more than she did.

She decided that it couldn't hurt to at least turn in the form. After all, a ton of people were going to be applying and her chances were slim anyway. She'd rather apply and not get the position than not fill it out at all and spend the rest of her life wondering what could have been.

The next morning, Shane caught up with her as she went to turn the form in, seeing as he was turning in one as well.

"So, you decided to apply, did you?" he asked.

"Why not?" Karly said as she put the form in the appropriate mailbox. "It's worth a try."

"You've got a shot. You're really, really smart, and you're the best worker in our department."

"Well, thanks, Shane. You flatter me."

"It's true. I think you've made a lot of people nervous by applying. You're practically a shoe-in."

"Okay. Now you're just sugar-coating. Just go back to work."

The two smiled at each other and Karly sat down at her computer to do some research and get a couple of files together.

"Hey, Karly," Shane said coming over to her desk a few hours later to pick her up for lunch. "Apparently over 100 people have applied, just today!"

"Wow," Karly said as she stood up and grabbed her things. "What was that about me being a shoe-in?"

"I'm staying true to my words."

"Whatever, Shane."

By the end of that week, hundreds upon hundreds of people had applied for the position. Karly kept refreshing her email every hour to see if anything had come up about an interview. The application said that they would contact her by Wednesday night and it was now Wednesday afternoon. She tried not to get her hopes up since she knew so many people had applied, but she was still nervous all the same. It didn't help that Shane believed she was destined for the job.

Then, at 11:30 Wednesday night, a new email appeared in her inbox from DARPA.

With trembling fingers, she opened it. It read:

 _Dear Miss Mathis,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that after careful reviewing of each application, you have been selected for an interview with Dr. Emil Hamilton. Your interview will be conducted on Saturday, April 14_ _th_ _at precisely 3:00 PM in Dr. Hamilton's office._

 _Please bring a copy of your résumé to the interview and be prepared to stay for as long as an hour._

 _Thank you for applying and good luck._

Karly couldn't believe it. Her application had been accepted and she was scheduled for an interview with none other than Dr. Emil Hamilton. She was a step closer to earning that coveted position.

* * *

"Shane!" Karly squealed as she came into work that morning. "I got an interview!"

"Nice!" Shane congratulated.

"What about you?"

"No, I never got the email."

Karly frowned. "Oh, Shane, I'm so sorry. You should've gotten one."

"It's okay, Karly. I knew I didn't have a chance against you anyway."

"I'm not there yet. I still have to get through the interview portion and I'm sure that's going to be even tougher than the last part."

"When's your interview?"

"Saturday at 3:00."

"Well, good luck! Not that you need it."

"Shane, stop it! You're going to give me a big head!"

"I'm just telling the truth!"

Karly rolled her eyes as they both got back to work.

Once Saturday rolled around, Karly tried desperately to calm the raging butterflies in her stomach. When she pulled up to Dr. Hamilton's office, the butterflies flew in her stomach even faster and harder.

She went upstairs to his office and quietly knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice on the other side said.

She slowly opened the door and found a huge office with Dr. Hamilton sitting at his desk.

"You must be my 3:00 interview," he said standing up. "What's your name?"

"Karly Mathis, sir," Karly replied as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Karly. Please have a seat."

"Thank you."

After taking her résumé from her, Dr. Hamilton dug through a huge stack of papers and eventually pulled out her application form.

Karly began getting nervous again, realizing just how many people she was up against for the position she so direly craved.

"Alright," he muttered. "It says here that you got all A's in every single one of your college classes each semester?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's very impressive. And how long have you been working at DARPA?"

"About five years now. I started out as an intern, but now I work in the Defense Sciences Office."

"And how long have you been working there?"

"Around three and a half years."

"Very impressive. Alright, Miss Mathis, what is your all-time favorite TV show?"

"Um…what?"

"What's your favorite TV show?"

"Um…I guess, _Arrow_ or _Once Upon a Time_."

"What do you like about those shows?"

" _Arrow_ always keeps things fresh and has a lot of good-looking actors in it." When she saw Dr. Hamilton smile at her comment, she laughed, "I know, I know. I'm a grown woman still thinking about attractive actors. Anyway, I like _Once Upon a Time_ because it finds interesting new ways to intersect the traditional fairy tales we know and love and gives us a new perspective of them while still staying true to the original story."

"Good. Now that you are much more relaxed, the interview can begin."

Karly smiled. It was a faux question to get her to calm down. She already liked this guy. Now that she was more comfortable, Dr. Hamilton started the interview.

* * *

"Karly Mathis?" a voice said over the phone.

"Yes?"

"This is Dr. Hamilton."

Karly's breath hitched in her throat as she pondered the reason why he was calling. Surely it couldn't be because she got the job.

"Good morning, sir," she said, finally finding her voice. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. After weeks of going over applications and interviews, I have made my decision. Congratulations, Karly. You've earned the honor of being my research assistant."

Karly nearly dropped her mug of tea. "What?"

"I'll expect you in my office at 9:00 on Monday morning. Welcome aboard!"

"Thank you so much, Dr. Hamilton."

Karly released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Once the initial shock wore off, she continued her morning routine at dizzying speed, elated to get to DARPA and tell Shane the good news. She practically sprinted into work quietly calling for him. "I did it," she told him once she had reached his desk. "I got the job!"

"You did? That's great!" he exclaimed as he hugged her. "I told you that you were a shoe-in! Congratulations! When do you start?"

"Monday. I'm here to pack up my things and get moving into my new space."

"I'm sorry to see you go. But I always knew you were meant for better things than staying here forever. I'm so happy for you, Karly."

"Thanks, Shane. I'll see you around."

Karly began clearing out her workspace and as she left the DSO, she took one last look around, then took the next step that would further her career…and later change life as she knew it.

For the next year, Karly worked closely with Dr. Hamilton and eventually became more of a partner than an assistant.

One day, when Karly came into the office, Dr. Hamilton was just packing everything up. "Karly, I'm glad you're here. We've been called in by NorthCom to go to the Arctic to check out some strange object they've found. It might be a military weapon, but they don't know for certain. That's why we're being called in."

"The Arctic?"

"Yes, and we're expected there by tonight. I'll pack up everything we need here and I'll meet you at the airstrip in two hours."

"Yes, sir."

Karly ran back home and packed up her necessary bags and the research equipment she kept at home. Then she drove to the airstrip and she and Dr. Hamilton boarded the plane. The ride was long and really, really boring. But what Karly couldn't count on was just how much her whole world was about to be turned upside down.


	2. Rescued

Karly got off the plane with Dr. Hamilton and some guy named Joe took her bags for her. Unfortunately, she had way too much work to do that kept her from giving him a proper introduction. She and Dr. Hamilton met the required people who had brought them up in the first place and they were both filled in on what was going on. Apparently, something huge was stuck in the ice that made up a glacier, and that was what they were here for. To figure out what this thing was. They went straight to their specified tent and began their research.

It wasn't long before some reporter from _The Daily Planet_ came poking her nose into their space.

Karly hated reporters. She always had, and this one was no exception. Especially once her big loud mouth got going.

"Miss Lane," the Colonel said as the red-headed woman entered the tent they were all in. "I'm Colonel Hardy, U.S. NorthCom." Hardy pointed to Dr. Hamilton and Karly. "Dr. Emil Hamilton and Karly Mathis of DARPA."

The redhead shook their hands politely.

"You're early," Hardy said sharply. "We were expecting you tomorrow."

"Which is why I showed up today," the redhead answered. "Look, let's get one thing straight, guys, okay? The only reason I'm here is because we're on Canadian soil and the appellate court overruled your injunction to keep me away."

That was why Karly didn't like reporters. Not only did they stick their noses in everyone else's business where it didn't belong, but they felt like they had superiority over every other profession. Karly could argue for hours about why the job of a reporter should cease to exist.

"So, can you have your people show me what you found?"

It took all of Karly's control to not roll her eyes overdramatically. If there was one thing she disliked about her chosen profession, it was that the press was always trying to find out every detail about their current projects. She had been interviewed by several reporters during her time at DARPA and she disliked almost all of them. She hadn't really gone to huge lengths to hide that fact from them either, and over time, it became a reporter's worst nightmare to be assigned an interview with Karly Mathis. She prided herself on that one.

The four of them went over to one of the Privates named Sekowsky, and he showed Miss Lois Lane everything they had found so far.

"NASA's EOS satellites pinged the anomaly first," he explained. "The ice shelf completely messes up the echo surroundings. But there's something there."

They looked at the screen and saw some kind of weird mass.

"A submarine, maybe? Soviet-era?" Lois suggested.

"Doubtful," Hardy answered. "That's 300 meters. Considerably larger than anything we know they built back then."

"But here's the spooky part," Sekowsky continued. "The ice surrounding the object, it's nearly twenty thousand years old."

Hardy led Lois away and showed her where she would be sleeping. Karly breathed a sigh of relief that she was free of the woman for at least a few hours. She went right back on her computers and continued doing her research.

"Karly," Dr. Hamilton said after she had been researching for hours. "It's late. You should get some sleep."

"I'll be there in a second. I'm almost at a stopping point," Karly responded without looking away from the computer. She heard Dr. Hamilton chuckle behind her and couldn't help but smile. He had always found it amusing how much she pored over her research even if it cost her hours of sleep. But Karly was capable of surviving on about three hours of sleep, sometimes even two. That probably wasn't healthy, but that was what came with being an over-achiever. At least she could admit she was one.

Karly was just about to call it quits for the night when she heard crunching footsteps outside in the snow. She quickly tossed on her thick coat and peeked out of the tent. There was that dumb reporter hiking up the mountains. Alone. How stupid could one person be? To make sure she didn't get herself killed, Karly saw no choice but to follow her. She had to keep Lois in sight, and if she ran and got someone, Lois could disappear and be lost forever.

After nearly slipping on the thin ice wall, she managed to catch up to Lois.

"Miss Lane," she said sharply.

Lois gasped and spun around. "Oh," she breathed. "It's only you."

"Only me?" Karly said angrily. "You think that just because I'm a research technician, I'm not as good as you?"

"I didn't say that."

"No, but I think we both know that's what you meant." She let out a huge sigh. "Look, all personal feelings aside, people aren't supposed to be here without someone back from base."

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing you're here."

"I don't count. I mean someone from NorthCom. I'm from DARPA. Now will you please come back before we both get in trouble? I have a lot more to lose than you do."

"You didn't have to follow me. You can go back if you want."

Karly took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Lois, I am asking you nicely. Please come back to base."

"Shh," Lois whispered. Karly looked up and saw some kind of floating machine. Her mouth dropped open at the sight. It was like nothing she had ever seen! She would have been a lot more excited about the potential research she could conduct if Lois hadn't been there and her whole job wasn't at risk by her being in this place.

Lois opened her camera and aimed it at the floating thing. The machine slowly opened.

"Lois…" Karly said warningly.

Lois snapped a picture, making the place light up for a brief second from the flash. Faster than possible, something snapped out of the opening on the machine and headed straight for Lois.

"Lois, watch out!" Karly screamed. She pushed the girl out of the way and an overwhelming force collided with her and slammed her hard into the wall. Immense pain shot through her body. "Lois," she groaned holding her side. "Go get help. Now."

"I can't just leave you!"

"Go!"

Lois turned and ran out of wherever they were to get back to base. The machine came at her again and Karly prepared for the worst.

Suddenly, someone grabbed the machine from behind and squeezed it until it broke. If that man was able to break a machine like that, Karly did not want to stick around to see what he could do to her. She tried to crawl away, but the horrible pain in her side forbid her from getting very far. The stranger came over to her and gently touched her back.

"No!" Karly cried out, trying to swat him away. The small action sent another wave of pain through her. "No, please! Don't hurt me!"

"It's alright, it's alright, it's alright!" the man in an attempt to calm her down as he grabbed her thrashing arms. "It's alright!"

Karly finally stopped struggling against him and turned to look at him. The face that she saw shocked her. It was not one she could easily forget. Not after she saw it every day and couldn't get it out of her mind. "Clark?!"

"You know who I am?" he asked softly.

"We went to school together. What are you doing here?" A surge of pain cut her off and she cried out as she put her hand to her side.

"May I?" Clark asked as he lightly touched her jacket.

Karly winced and slowly nodded. Clark undid the buttons and looked at her side. There was a gaping hole that was pouring blood.

"You're hemorrhaging internally," he told her. Well, that explained the pain. "And if I don't cauterize this bleed…"

"What?" Karly gasped.

"I can do things that other people can't."

"What are you talking about?"

"You have to swear you won't tell anyone."

"Won't tell anyone what?"

Clark sighed. "Hold my hand. This is really gonna hurt."

She looked at him as he offered her his hand. Hesitantly, she grabbed it. It was calloused and firm from much use, but it was also kind of inviting, like it had been wanting to hold another human hand for years.

Clark sighed again. Karly looked up at him and saw his eyes begin to turn red. "Wait," she said quietly. "Wait, what are you—"

She was cut off by an unimaginable pain burning the flesh on her side. She began screaming at the top of her lungs and squeezing his hand with all her strength, neither of which seemed to bother him in the slightest. Black spots began to cross her vision because of her low pain tolerance.

The last thing she saw was Clark's ever so kind and compassionate eyes looking at her and his lips whispering, "I'm sorry."


	3. Back to Smallville

The next thing Karly remembered, she was waking up on the cot in her tent back at base.

"Karly?" she heard Dr. Hamilton's voice, though it sounded like it was a million miles away.

She slowly opened her eyes and the blurry images in front of her began to focus. She could see Dr. Hamilton, Colonel Hardy, and Lois looking over her.

"Are you okay?" Dr. Hamilton asked her.

Karly slowly nodded. She winced as a sharp pain shot through her side.

"Take it easy."

"Miss Mathis," Colonel Hardy said. "You wanna tell me what you were doing out there without supervision?"

"What?"

"We found you in the middle of the snow a couples miles from base."

"I was following our reporter who went up to that object first," Karly answered, giving Lois a death glare.

"Neither of you should've gone up to that thing without telling anyone. It was strictly off-limits until we knew exactly what it was. And now that thing has flown off and we have no idea where it's headed or what it can do."

"It flew off?" Karly asked. They had found her in the snow? What exactly happened after she blacked out?

Hardy ignored her question and continued, "Even if you were following Miss Lane to keep her safe, you should've told someone here without putting yourself at risk. What happened up there? And how did you get from up there to down in the middle of the snow?"

"I saw Lois and I tried to get her to come back to base before we got in trouble. There was something moving in there and when she snapped a picture of it, it went crazy and tried to hurt her, but I pushed her out of the way." Karly stopped as she remembered who had appeared to help her. After what must've been ten years, she saw…him. That face she never forgot.

He had burned her…with his eyes. Who was he? She felt like her whole world had come crashing down around her and nothing was certain. She was a scientist, more specifically a research technician, and therefore, she looked for a reasonable explanation for everything around her. But this was something she could never begin to explain. What else had he been hiding from the rest of the world?

"What happened after that?" Dr. Hamilton asked her.

"I…I don't remember," Karly lied.

"Well, you should be thanking Miss Lane. She was the one who told us that you were injured."

"If it wasn't for her going up there in the first place, I wouldn't have been injured at all."

Lois looked away from her guiltily.

"We've bandaged up your wound," Dr. Hamilton explained. "Although, none of us know how it got there or why it looks almost healed. Is there anything else you can remember about what went on up there?"

"No. I'm sorry."

"That's alright. Get some rest now. We'll continue our research when you're better."

Dr. Hamilton and Colonel Hardy left, but Lois hung back.

"Okay, I know you're lying," she said sharply. "What really happened after I left? You don't just end up miles away from that thing without knowing something else."

"I don't know, Lois."

"Fine, don't tell me. But I'll get to the truth eventually. Someone up there rescued you, I know it. I don't know why you're keeping it a secret, but I'll find out."

She finally left the tent to let her get some sleep. As Karly began to doze off, she could only think of Clark and all the unanswered questions that had formed about him in the last hour.

* * *

When Karly felt better, Dr. Hamilton came into her tent. "Karly, I don't want to do this, but this isn't a good environment to keep you in when you've been injured. I'm going to send you home for now, but I will make sure to contact you as much as possible with each development."

"No, really, Dr. Hamilton, I'm perfectly fine, I promise."

"You're my best assistant and your safety is my main priority. Like I said, you'll constantly be in the loop with each thing we find. But you need to be in a better place than the Arctic. We've already got a plane ready for you to take you back to headquarters."

Karly sighed. The opportunity of a lifetime, and it was completely wrecked all thanks to Lois Lane. As if her opinion of reporters wasn't tainted enough already.

She packed up her bags and boarded the plane that was ready for her to take her back to the States. On the flight back, she decided that wallowing in self-pity wasn't going to do anyone any good, so she figured that this was the best time to go figure out what the heck had gone on with Clark Kent.

She told the pilot to land in Kansas instead of going back to headquarters. The perks of having to go back in a private jet.

Once the plane landed, she got off and looked around her. It had been years since she had been in Smallville. But here she was.

She got a rental car, then got directions to the Kent farm and when she arrived, she found an elderly woman outside doing yard work.

"Mrs. Kent?" she called. The woman turned around to face her. "I'm Karly Mathis. I work with DARPA." She noticed Mrs. Kent tense up a bit, but ignored that and continued, "I went to school with your son, Clark. I was just wondering if you knew if he was going to be coming around any time soon or any way I could contact him. I really need to talk to him. It's pretty important."

"Well, I'm not sure. Clark hasn't come by here in years."

"Oh. Well, can you just give me a call if you see him?" Karly handed Mrs. Kent her business card with her cell number on it. "Thanks."

"Sure thing. It was nice to meet you."

Not having anywhere else to go, Karly decided to go somewhere she hadn't gone since she got out of college. Home.

Karly had kept in contact with her parents over the years, but she hadn't seen them in a really long time as she rarely ever was able to take off work for a while. They were going to be pretty surprised at this unexpected turns of events.

She pulled into the driveway and took a deep breath. When she rang the doorbell, which felt weird since this was her own home, her mother answered the door.

"Hi, Mom."

"Karly?" her mother gasped. The two of them hugged tightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in town and needed a place to stay."

"Why did you need to come back to Smallville?"

"Um…it's classified."

One perk of Karly's job was that whenever someone asked her a question that she could relate back to work, if she didn't want to answer, she could easily say that she was sworn to silence by the government. She had done that a lot in the past with some of her coworkers and even with her parents multiple times. In the long run, it was just easier that way.

"How long are you staying?"

"I'm not sure. There's something I'm taking care of while I'm here, and I don't know how long it's going to take until it's done."

"It's great to have you home! Your dad will be so excited when he gets home from work."

The family reunion lasted a few days and it was really nice for all of them. Karly hadn't realized how much she had missed being home with her family.

"Karly, how's the job been going?" her father asked as they all ate dinner together.

"It's good. I can't say too much, but being a research technician for Dr. Hamilton is every person's dream and I'm here living it. He's a great person to work for. He's just really nice and treats me as more of an equal."

"I'm glad everything's working out for you. What are you up to now?"

"I'm actually not allowed to discuss anything at the moment. Don't worry, if anything comes up, you'll be the first to know."

Her phone started buzzing and she saw that Dr. Hamilton was calling.

"Sorry, I've gotta take this." She left the table and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Karly? Did you make it back okay?"

"Um…I actually took a little detour, but I'm fine."

"We haven't had anything huge happen up here. I just wanted to check in on you. I'll call you soon if anything develops."

"Alright. Thanks, Dr. Hamilton."


	4. Meeting with Clark

Several days passed and Dr. Hamilton kept her up to date with each development. Karly wanted nothing more than to be back up there doing research herself. She hated being separated from all the interesting facts up there. And the fact that no one had contacted her regarding Clark was making her lose hope. She couldn't stay in Smallville forever. Once Dr. Hamilton got back from the Arctic, she'd have to go back to headquarters to continue her research.

Karly planned to return within the next couple of days, contacted about Clark or not, but there was somewhere she wanted to go before she left. "I'm going to go see Ryan," she told her mother as she headed out the door.

Karly drove to the cemetery and found the headstone with 'Ryan Mathis: Beloved Daughter and Sister' on it. Ryan had only been two years old when she contracted a virus that her immune system wasn't ready to fight off. She passed away a couple months after the doctors discovered the virus. They had done everything they could, but it wasn't enough and their parents decided that they were tired of Ryan seeing doctors all the time and getting stuck with needles and all sorts of medication when none of it was working. Ryan's death hit the family hard, but they managed to push on. Karly had only been thirteen.

She laid some flowers down in front of the headstone. Then she heard footsteps behind her. When she turned, there was the last person she was expecting to see. He was wearing ordinary clothes and a blue baseball cap was pulled over his head to the point where she could barely see his eyes.

"I heard you were looking for me," he said to her. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Only a million," she responded. She slowly walked over to him, the memories from back on the machine coming back to her. "Who are you?"

"It's complicated."

"I saw you burn me with your eyes. That's not exactly normal."

"I told you. I can do things that other people can't."

"How long have you been able to do these things?"

"Ever since I can remember. Although other things didn't develop until grade school."

"I saw you every single day since the middle of elementary school. Why didn't I know?"

"I got really good at hiding it."

"How long are you going to keep hiding it? Eventually, people are going to find out about you and what you can do. Especially since some reporter is hassling me when she came up to the Arctic about what exactly went on in that craft."

"Did you tell anyone what happened?"

"No, I said I didn't remember anything. But that reporter didn't believe me, and I have a feeling she won't let it go until she finds out what really happened up there."

"I'll handle it. I have before."

"Why don't you just let yourself be known?"

Clark sighed. "My father believed that if the world found out who I really was, they'd reject me out of fear. I can still remember that day. The day the biggest tornado hit Smallville."

"I remember that day," Karly murmured. "Wasn't that the day…?"

"The day he died, yes. I easily could've saved him. The tornado was coming right for him, but he held up his hand to say that the time wasn't right. I let my father die because I trusted him. Because he was convinced that I had to wait. That the world was not ready. What do you think?"

Karly let out a big sigh. She felt like everything she had ever known was a lie. She saw Clark from a distance every day for years and the whole time, he had been someone with incredible powers that he used to help people.

Her phone suddenly buzzed in her pocket and it was Dr. Hamilton again. "Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"Karly!" he said on the other end. "You're needed at NorthCom right now. It's urgent."

"Um, alright, I'll grab a flight as soon as I can and be there by tonight."

"Hurry!"

Karly hung up the phone and tucked it back in her pocket. "That was work," she told Clark. "I have to go." She began walking away from the cemetery when she turned back to him. "Clark?" He turned to look at her. "I'll keep your secret. I promise."

Clark smiled at her and she took off back home.

"I've gotta go," Karly said to her parents as she ran inside the house and began throwing her stuff together. "Dr. Hamilton called and said it was urgent. It was so great to see you guys again."

"You too," her mother said. The three of them hugged tightly.

"Come back soon!" her father called.

"I will!" Karly called as she opened the car door. "Bye, guys!"

Karly drove to the airport and got on a plane that would take her back to NorthCom. She contacted Dr. Hamilton and the two of them met up in front of the building.

"What's up?" Karly asked.

"I'll explain everything when we meet with the General."

"The General?"

"Yeah, this is huge."

Dr. Hamilton and Karly went inside and waited in the appropriate room. Eventually, a man walked in who must've been the General Dr. Hamilton was waiting for.

"General Swanwick, sir," Dr. Hamilton addressed. "This is my assistant, Karly Mathis."

"What am I looking at, doc? Comet? Asteroid?"

"Comets don't make course corrections, general. Wanted you to see this before some amateur with a telescope creates a worldwide panic." He went over to the computers and pulled up a grainy picture that clearly showed some kind of flying object. "The ship appears to have inserted itself into a lunar synchronous orbit, though I have no idea why."

"Have you tried…communicating with it?"

"Well, they haven't responded as of yet."

"I'm just speculating, but I think whoever's at the helm of that thing is looking to make a dramatic entrance."

Karly looked at Dr. Hamilton. "And just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder."

The next night, Karly was exhausted as she and Dr. Hamilton had been at NorthCom all day with the others, busy researching whatever that thing was. She rubbed her hands over her tired eyes when a newscast came out across the monitors about someone catching this object on camera. She sighed as she saw that someone had done just what they were trying to avoid.

Suddenly, the power went out, yet the TV still had static coming across it. Everyone got up from their seats and looked at the TV screens in confusion.

"You are not alone," a distorted voice said as the same words appeared on the screen one at a time. The voice said that several times, then started repeating the phrase in several different languages, including one that Karly was sure wasn't known to man.

A blurred figure eventually came onto the screen with no discernible features whatsoever. "My name is General Zod," the figure said. "I come from a world far from yours. I have journeyed across an ocean of stars to reach you. For some time, your world has sheltered one of my citizens."

Karly's eyes widened. If this figure was talking about Clark, everyone was going to be in trouble. Especially her.

"I request that you return this individual to my custody. For reasons unknown, he has chosen to keep his existence a secret from you. He will have made efforts to blend in. He will look like you. But he is not one of you."

Definitely talking about Clark. This was not good. This was not good at all.

"To those of you who may know of his current location, the fate of your planet rests in your hands. To Kal-El, I say this: Surrender within 24 hours or watch this world suffer the consequences."

The blurry figure vanished and the lights came back on. Karly's heart pounded in her chest so loud, she was afraid it would give her away. Should she give up Clark if it meant saving the world? He could handle this guy with all his abilities, couldn't he?

No. She had promised him. And she wasn't one to break her promises.

Dr. Hamilton put his hand on her shoulder which made her jump a little. "Go home. Get some rest. We'll deal with this in the morning."


	5. Karly Gets Caught

When Karly awoke, she poured herself some coffee after she had dressed and turned on the news. Things about the little "announcement" last night sprinkled every channel.

Her phone buzzed and once again, it was Dr. Hamilton.

"Karly!" he said through the phone. "We've got a situation. Colonel Hardy believes you know where this guy is after the incident in the Arctic. He's coming for you. Do you know anything about whoever this Zod person is talking about?"

"Um…" Karly stuttered.

"Karly, this is serious! The whole world is being threatened right now! Do you know anything at all about him?"

Karly was trying to find some way to respond when her door was busted down and all sorts of men wearing FBI jackets flooded in.

"Freeze!"

"Too late," Karly said before hanging up the phone. Into her apartment walked Colonel Hardy.

"You've got some explaining to do, Miss Mathis," he said to her.

Karly was handcuffed and led off to NorthCom. As soon as she was walked out of the building, she was hounded by reporters. Including Lois Lane.

"Miss Mathis!" Lois said loudly over all the chaos. "What's all this about you knowing something about the alien they're looking for? Did you meet him at the Arctic in that craft? What happened to you up there?"

Karly kept her head down and refused to make eye contact with any reporter or camera that was being pushed in her face.

Another reason the poor girl hated reporters. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

When they all got to NorthCom, Karly was escorted to an interrogation room with Colonel Hardy. He sat her down at the table. "You want to explain to me what really happened up at the Arctic?" he asked as he paced around the room.

"I already told you, I don't remember," Karly said firmly.

"Now, see, I find that a little hard to believe."

"Believe it or not. That's your choice."

"Don't test me, Miss Mathis. I think you know more than what you're letting on. What do you know about this guy?"

"Nothing that will be of any use to you."

Colonel Hardy slammed his hands down on the table which made her jump. "If I find out you're lying to me, we can lock you away in prison for a long, long time. Is that really what you want?"

"Of course not."

"All your years working your way up at DARPA will go to waste in a matter of hours. You'll be replaced as Dr. Hamilton's research technician, and it will take you even longer to be able to get that position back if you can at all."

Karly sighed and thought about what he was saying. She knew she had promised Clark she would keep his secret, but right now, everything she cared about was at stake.

"I…"

Before she could say anything more, the General popped his head into the room. "Colonel, you better come out here."

Hardy glared at Karly as he exited.

The General took Hardy and the rest of the military, complete with tanks and guns, to go meet the alien who was making himself known.

"Alright," the General said calmly, taking a step forward. "You've got our attention. What is it you want?"

"I would like to speak to Karly Mathis," Clark answered as he floated above them all.

"What makes you think she's here?"

"Don't play games with me, general. I'll surrender, but only if you guarantee Karly's freedom."

After what felt like hours to Karly, Clark was escorted into the room wearing some kind of blue suit with a red cape. He looked way more attractive than the last time she had seen him, especially now that she could actually see his face.

"You surrendered yourself?" she asked him as he was sat down across from her.

"It's for the best. Besides, it gets you free."

"Huh?"

"I wouldn't surrender unless they let you go."

"Well…thanks. Um, just a little sidenote, couldn't you just break out of those?" she asked, referring to his handcuffs.

"It makes them feel more secure."

"So, your real name is Kal-El?"

"Of the House of El."

"Interesting name. And what in the world are you wearing?"

"It was given to me by my father. My real father."

"What does the 'S' stand for?"

"It's not an S. On my world it means hope."

Karly smiled. "Well, it looks like an S."

The sound of a buzzer rang throughout the room signaling that someone on the other side of the room wanted to interject.

"Sir?" Dr. Hamilton's voice said. Karly let out a little laugh. Leave it to him to interrupt their conversation and still address an alien as 'sir'. "Hi, my name is Dr. Emil—"

"Emil Hamilton," Clark finished. "I know, I can see your ID tag in your breast pocket. Along with a half-eaten roll of Wint-O-Green Lifesavers. I can also see the soldiers in the next room preparing that tranquilizing agent of yours. You won't need it."

So he could also see through things. What other things was he able to do?

"Sir, you can't expect us to not take precautions. You could be carrying some kind of alien pathogen."

"Been here for 33 years, doctor. Haven't infected anyone yet."

"That you know of," the General's voice said. "We have legitimate security concerns. You revealed your identity to Miss Mathis over there. Why won't you do the same with us?"

Clark stood up from the table. "Let's put our cards on the table here, general." With absolutely no effort, he tore the handcuffs in half and Karly put her hand to her mouth to hide her smile. He went over to the one-way mirror. "You're scared because you can't control me. You don't, and you never will. But that doesn't mean that I'm your enemy."

"Then who is? Zod?"

"That's what I'm worried about."

"Be that as it may, I've been given orders to hand you over to him."

"Do what you have to do, general."

Along with nearly the entire military, Karly and Clark went to an area of barren land not far from NorthCom.

"Thank you," he said to her.

"For what?"

"For keeping your promise."

"Of course. After all, it's not my secret to tell. Even if the FBI is on my case about it. That reporter from _The Daily Planet_ is going to be all over this, I'm sure."

"Let her write her story. It won't make much difference in the long run."

"I never liked reporters. Especially after she's the reason I got hurt in the first place."

"Maybe you should thank her. After all, it's how you met me."

"Everyone keeps saying I should thank her. All she's done is cause me problems.

"But now I have someone to believe in me."

"I'm just one person. What difference does it make?"

"All the difference in this world and every other."

Clark took her hand in his and she could feel her cheeks grow warm. As he looked at her, she had an overwhelming urge to kiss him. After seeing him every day since they were both kids, she wanted to feel his lips on hers.

 _Snap out of it, Karly_ , she chided herself. She had talked to this guy for the first time just days ago. She barely knew him.

Yet…she still wanted to kiss him.

Suddenly, a loud boom in the distance forced them to break their gaze. "They're coming," Clark said. "You should leave now." For some reason, Karly couldn't make her feet from their current position. "Go, Karly."

Karly held onto his hand for as long as she could then walked back to stand next to Dr. Hamilton. A huge ship flew to where they were and landed right in front of Clark. Several aliens, who must've been from wherever Clark was from seeing as they all looked like humans as well, exited from the ship. One approached Clark and the part of the suit covering its face pulled back and revealed that underneath, it was a female. She was wearing some kind of helmet that Karly guessed was so she could walk on Earth. So why didn't Clark need one of those?

"Kal-El," she said to Clark. "I'm sub-commander Faora-Ul. On behalf of General Zod, I extend you his greetings." Faora walked up to the military, specifically the general. "Are you the ranking officer here?"

"I am," the general responded.

"General Zod would like this woman to accompany me," she said, pointing to Karly.

Dr. Hamilton stepped in front of her as did Colonel Hardy. "You asked for the alien," Hardy said. "You didn't say anything about one of our own."

"Shall I tell the general you're unwilling to comply?"

"I don't care what you tell him."

Karly stepped forward a little bit. "I'll go."

"Karly…" Dr. Hamilton said. "Don't."

"I'll be okay. He'll protect me." Karly followed Faora onto the ship and as soon as they loaded up, the ship took off again.


	6. Zod's Ship

As Karly and Clark waited for Faora, she felt a light touch on her hand and then she felt Clark give her some kind of object. When she looked in her hand, it was some kind of long device with the symbol on it that was on his uniform.

"The atmospheric composition on our ship is not compatible with humans," Faora said as she came back carrying some kind of device. It was similar to the helmet she was currently wearing. "You need to wear a breather beyond this point." She put the device around Karly's neck and then it turned into a mask to allow her to breathe on the ship.

Several people led her and Clark to a huge room where they were greeted by someone who must've been the leader, Zod. He was standing in front of a large window so Karly could see outside and she saw them orbiting around the Earth.

When she became a research technician at DARPA, she never believed anything like could ever happen and her head was spinning as she tried to figure out what was going to happen now.

"Kal-El," Zod said as he turned around. "You have no idea how long we've been searching for you."

"I take it you're Zod?" Clark asked.

"General Zod," Faora corrected sharply. "Our commander."

"It's all right, Faora," Zod said to her. "We can forgive Kal any lapses in decorum. He's a stranger to our ways. That should be cause for celebration, not conflict."

Karly looked over at Clark and noticed that he was looking a little…ill. She tried to pass that off as nervousness, but that didn't seem to quell her worries, especially when he began to get paler.

"I…feel strange," Clark stuttered as he stumbled a bit. "Weak." He coughed a little, then fell to the ground coughing and retching up blood.

"Clark!" Karly cried as she knelt down to him and put her hands on him. She looked up at Zod. "What's happening?"

"He's rejecting our ship's atmospherics. You've spent a lifetime adapting to Earth's ecology, but never adapted to ours."

"You have to help him! He could be dying!"

"I can't help. Whatever's happening has to run its course."

"Clark? Look at me!" Clark's eyes stayed to the ground and he collapsed. "Please help him!" Clark's breathing became more and more labored. "Clark!"

Finally, Clark shut his eyes and passed out from the pain.

"Take him away," Zod ordered.

Some people picked up Clark and took him away from the room. Karly went to go after him, but Zod held her back.

"No!" she cried. "I have to be with him! Stop!"

Zod placed his hands on her head and an overwhelming headache started up in her brain. Images flashed before her eyes at such a fast rate, including everything she knew about Clark, that it made her nauseous.

Suddenly, the images stopped as Zod released her. Karly held her head in her hands as she tried to keep the contents of her stomach inside her body. "Thank you," he smiled. "You've given me everything I need to know."

"What?" she gasped. A woman took Karly's arms and began leading her away. "Wait! I need to be with Clark!"

The woman ignored her cries and threw her into a small room on the ship then let the door slam shut behind her. Karly sighed and looked around her. On the other end of the room, there was a light blue glow. Upon further inspection, she saw that there was an opening that was shaped like the tool Clark had given her earlier. She took it in her hands and pressed it into the opening.

There was a small sound and when she turned around there was an older man strikingly close to her. She let out a gasp and backed up a little.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Jor-El. I am Kal's father."

"How did you get in here?"

"When you inserted the command key, Miss Mathis."

"How do you know my name?"

"Because it was you who inserted the key. Thanks to you, I'm uploading to the ship's mainframe."

"Can you help me? And him? He's in trouble. He can't adapt to this place after growing up on a different planet and Zod captured him. Who knows what they're doing to him now?"

"I designed this ship. I can modify its atmospheric composition to human compatibility. We can stop them. We can send them back to the Phantom Zone."

"How?"

"I can teach you. And in turn, you teach Kal. Will you help me?"

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

After less than a minute, the alarms started blaring and Karly's breathing mask disabled. She found it a little hard to breathe at first, but her breathing soon went back to normal once the atmosphere was tolerable again.

"The ship's crew are alerted," Jor-El said. "We need to move quickly. Retrieve the command key."

Karly grabbed the key out of the opening and watched as Jor-El moved his hand and the door opened. They both walked out of the room and quickly tried to find wherever he was taking Karly. One of the people on the ship aimed her gun at the two of them, but Jor-El waved his hand and the door shut right in front of her before the woman could fire it.

"Pick up her sidearm," Jor-El told her.

Karly grabbed the gun that had come on her side of the door and they took off once again. "I have no idea how to use this," Karly said as she looked at the gun.

"Easy. Aim and pull the trigger. That's all you need to know. To your right. Fire."

Karly looked beside her and saw one of Zod's men aiming his own gun at her. She aimed her gun at him and fired, sending what looked like a bolt of electricity at him.

"Behind you."

Before Karly even had time to get over what she had just done with the magic electricity gun, she spun around and shot at another one. When she looked over, three more people came for her, but Jor-El made the door shut on them again.

"I don't think I can do this," Karly mumbled.

"Nonsense," Jor-El said from a few feet from where he was previously standing seconds ago. "You're doing fine."

He pointed in one direction and when she looked that way, there was Jor-El again. He pointed in another direction and made the door open where she found that he was already standing inside the strange room. Karly would've been a lot more confused if she had the time to be, but right now she just was trying not to get killed.

"Secure yourself inside the open pod," Jor-El ordered.

Karly went inside the pod Jor-El had opened and began securing herself inside it.

"Safe travels, Miss Mathis," he said to her. "It's highly unlikely we'll be seeing each other again. Remember, the phantom drives are essential in stopping them." After a pause, he added, "Move your head to the left."

Karly did so right as Faora attempted to punch her, wiping away the image of Jor-El. Karly grabbed the gun and tried to shoot Faora but Faora grabbed the gun before Karly could get a good shot. Using all her strength, she kicked Faora away and closed the doors to the pod before Faora could shoot her.

The pod shot off away from the ship and started hurtling towards Earth. She began jostling around inside and once more tried to hold down what little food was inside her. How was she even supposed to land this thing once she got back on Earth? Did she just make it out of all of that only to have a crash landing?

The pod started spinning as it broke through Earth's exosphere, and she started plunging towards the hard ground. Suddenly, she felt something hit the pod and when she looked through the glass, she saw that Clark had grabbed onto it. He pulled his fist back and shattered the glass and quickly pulled her out of the pod. Her arms went around his neck as he pulled her closer to him. The pod exploded on the ground in fiery blaze so he turned himself around in order to protect her from the blast.

Slowly, they touched back down onto the ground. Karly still had a death grip on him, even when she felt her feet hit the ground.

"You can open your eyes now," he said softly. She had never realized how beautiful of a voice he had. "Are you alright?"

"Depends on your definition of alright," she breathed.

Karly finally released her tight grip on him as his hands remained placed on her waist and her hands went to his shoulders. She looked up into his eyes and felt herself internally melt at his warm gaze.

"I tried not to tell them anything, but Zod, he—he looked into my mind or something and—"

"It's okay, Karly," Clark interrupted. "They did the same thing to me."

They met eyes again and she had that moment again where she just wanted to kiss him. A look of concern flashed across Clark's face and without warning, he took off up into the air which gave her a heart attack.

She had no idea what the problem was, but it certainly couldn't have been good. Police sirens pierced the air and she saw a police car coming up the road. She flagged him down and an officer stepped out.

"Was that the alien that just flew off? What's he doing here?" the cop asked in disbelief.

"It's a long story," Karly said. "One I don't have time to explain. Listen, how far away is the Kent farm from here?"

"Oh, about a twenty, maybe twenty-five minute drive from here."

"Can you please take me there?"

"I guess. Hop in."

"Thank you."

When they pulled up to the farm, a lot of damage had been done. A truck had been flipped into the house and there was a fair share of debris scattered about. No doubt Zod was behind the destruction.

"Thanks," Karly said to the officer. "Here." She handed him a few dollars as payment. "I don't need your money, ma'am. I have a feeling you need it more than I do. Now go do whatever it is you need to be doing."

Karly threw him a quick smile and got out of the police car. "Clark!" she called as she ran out up to him. "I know how to stop all this. I saw your father in Zod's ship. He told me the phantom drives are essential in stopping them."

"Which my ship has."

"Exactly."

"So if we can collide the two drives, we can stop him. We need to tell the people at NorthCom."

Karly pulled out her phone and called Dr. Hamilton. "Dr. Hamilton?" she said urgently into the phone.

"Karly, are you alright? You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!"

"We can celebrate later. Right now, I need you and everyone else to meet us outside of NorthCom. We think we've found a way to stop Zod."

"Really? How?"

"I'll explain when I get there. Hurry!" She hung up and turned to Clark. "Okay, we need to get us and your ship to NorthCom as fast as we can."

"And Colonel Hardy," Clark said.

"I thought he hated you."

"We've come to an…understanding."

"Alright, fine, and Colonel Hardy."

She, Clark, and Colonel Hardy got Clark's ship attached to Hardy's helicopter and they all flew over to NorthCom.


	7. The Plan

When Karly got off the helicopter, she walked up to where the general was standing. Dr. Hamilton saw her and wrapped her up into a hug. Karly was surprised, but she wasn't uncomfortable.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" he said to her.

"Thanks. We have a plan to stop all this."

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked referring to Clark's ship.

"Yes, that's the ship he arrived in."

"Wow…"

Clark started walking over to where they all stood. "The ship is powered by something called a phantom drive," he told the general and Dr. Hamilton. "It bends space. Zod's ship uses the same technology, and if we can make the two drives collide with one another—"

"A singularity can be created," Dr. Hamilton finished.

"Like a black hole," the general said.

"Yes," Clark answered. "So if we open up this doorway, then theoretically, they should be pulled back in."

"So, you want us to bomb them with that?" Dr. Hamilton asked, pointing to the ship.

Colonel Hardy came up to the group. "General, that craft maxes out 17,000 pounds, we can drop it from a C-17. It's a viable plan."

"And if I don't stop that machine over the Indian Ocean, the gravity field will continue to expand," Clark explained.

The general gave him a small nod and Clark nodded back and began to walk away.

Karly realized something. "If that machine is making Earth like Krypton, then won't you be weaker like back on the ship?"

"Maybe. I'm not about to let that stop me from trying. You might want to step back a little bit."

"Will I ever see you again?"

His silence gave her her unwanted answer. Karly began backing away from him.

"Maybe a little bit more."

Karly smiled and watched as he took off into the sky to go save the world.

Meanwhile, the group on land, minus the general who went back to NorthCom, boarded into one of the planes that contained the ship and sped off to complete their plan.

"Karly, are you sure about coming with us?" Dr. Hamilton asked her. "After the whole thing on the ship…"

"Yes. I'm the only one who can activate it when the time comes. I'll be okay."

"Guardian en route to Metropolis," Hardy said over the intercom as the plane took off. "Package in tow."

"Be advised," a man said on the other end. "F-35s inbound to rendezvous point. You should have visual contact now."

Karly nervously bit her lip as they flew on. She was under a lot of pressure since almost everything was riding on her and Clark to stop this whole mess.

"NorthCom, Lightning 1," one of the other pilots said. "Request permission to unleash the hounds.

"Lightning 1, NorthCom," the general responded. "You are clear to engage. Send battle damage assessment when able. Out."

Karly watched as one of the planes launched missiles at Zod's machine, but they just deflected and rammed into the street below.

"Avionics are going haywire," one of the pilots said urgently. "The gravity field is pulling our missiles down. We gotta get closer!"

All of the planes flew as close as they could to Zod's machine, but their planes went crazy once they got close.

"I just lost my wingman!" the same pilot cried. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!"

Karly put her hand to her mouth as she pictured the plane going down killing the pilot. Clark really needed to stop that thing and fast. How many more people would die before he did so? What if he couldn't do it? What if he was already dead?

"NorthCom, this is Guardian. Are we cleared to make the drop?" Colonel Hardy said.

"Negative, Guardian," the general said back.

They waited with anticipation before Karly saw the machine in Metropolis shut off. Colonel Hardy turned to Karly and said, "He did it."

Karly breathed a huge sigh of relief. Well, the hard part was done.

"NorthCom, this is Guardian," Colonel Hardy said. "We're passing through phase line red. We are good to go."

"Godspeed, Guardian," the general said over the intercom. "Arm the package. You are cleared hot."

Colonel Hardy turned to Karly again. "We're lining up for the final run. It's up to you and Hamilton now."

Karly, Dr. Hamilton, and the loadmaster went to the back of the plane where Clark's ship sat.

"Karly," Dr. Hamilton said to her. "Before we do all this, I just wanted to tell you that I have never been prouder of one of my assistants. You have been a delight to work with and if we live through this, I'm going to promote you to my partner. You've earned it, especially because of the courage and tenacity you've shown over the course of the last few days."

"Thanks, Dr. Hamilton," Karly smiled. "That means a lot."

"And don't think I haven't seen how you've been interacting with this guy. If we live through this, I say you go for it."

Karly let out a little laugh. "Yes, sir." She took out the object Clark had given her on Zod's ship and lined it up with the opening on Clark's ship. Unfortunately, the piece refused to go into the hole. "Oh, no," she said quietly.

"Loadmaster, is the package on? Are we ready to drop?" Colonel Hardy called.

"Negative, Guardian!" the loadmaster called back.

"Something's wrong!" Karly said to Dr. Hamilton. "This key is supposed to be going in all the way, but it's not!"

"Let me take a look at it!" Dr. Hamilton told her. He tried to get the key in, but he failed as well.

Colonel Hardy joined them. "We are all lined up for the drop! What's the hold-up?"

"We've had a slight setback," Dr. Hamilton said to him.

The hatch was open, ready for Clark's ship to drop when a bunch of explosions rang out behind them. When they looked out, they saw Zod's ship shooting at their other planes and coming for them.

"Oh, come on," Karly groaned.

Suddenly, Clark flew by and rammed into the ship, throwing off the missiles intended for the plane. Karly smiled as the ship was destroyed and crashed down into the city of Metropolis.

"Karly!" Dr. Hamilton called. She turned around and found him looking at the ship. "I think I know how to make it work." He turned the ship ever so slowly until the key went into the slot.

The two of them let out small laughs as the ship began powering up. Just when they thought things were finally working out, Faora burst through the bottom of the plane and knocked them both to the ground. The men started shooting at her, but it was no use. The bullets just deflected off her armor.

Faora went straight for Colonel Hardy and didn't stop until they were in the cockpit.

"Karly," Dr. Hamilton said. "The key."

Karly looked up at the key and saw that it was still sticking out. Slowly, she moved over to it and pushed it all the way in. Bolts of green light shot out from it and she slowly backed up and ended up by the hatch. A blast from the machine caused her to fall out of the plane and she started plummeting towards the ground.

Before she could even let out a good scream, she started falling up towards the sky where Clark's ship was sucking everything into the Phantom Zone.

Karly had never screamed so loud in her life. If she ended up getting taken to the Phantom Zone, Zod and the rest of them would make it their personal mission to see that she suffered long and hard for ruining their plan.

Clark appeared in her vision and caught her in his arms. She looked at him and saw him struggling to break free from the pull the Phantom Zone "black hole" was emitting.

"Be strong," she said into his ear. Her encouraging voice seemed to give him a burst of energy and he managed to fly away from the force of the "black hole" and land on the ground. When Karly looked up, the Phantom Zone "black hole" had closed and pieces of debris that didn't make it to the hole were falling to Earth again.

Clark set her down on the ground and Karly couldn't believe the destruction around them. It would take years to rebuild everything.

"You saved me. Again," Karly said.

"I always will."

Karly smiled awkwardly. She had never been close with a guy because she was always so absorbed with her work which meant that she had no idea what to do or say. So she said the first thing that came to her mind. "I wish we'd have talked during school. I saw you every single day, and I wanted to come over to you so many times, but you always seemed happy enough so I just figured that you didn't need me."

"I wish you had. I could've used a friend like you."

"So could I."

There was that moment again where she wanted to kiss him. He seemed to have the same idea because he began drawing closer to her. Before their lips could touch, a small noise made them turn their heads.

Much to her dismay, he flew away from her to confront Zod. Karly watched in horror as Zod flung him away and began walking over to him. He and Clark collided and a sonic boom exploded from the collision as they were flung back towards the city.

Minutes passed, and every few seconds, Karly could see something explode and crumble as the fight between Clark and Zod raged on.

Tired of not knowing what exactly was going on with him, Karly took off and followed the path of destruction Zod and Clark had caused. She ran into the train station where people were screaming and running out, giving her the clue that the two of them were probably in there.

When she got inside and bolted down the steps, she saw Clark and Zod really going at each other. Clark got Zod in a chokehold as Zod and everyone started scrambling to get out before they got hurt. Zod managed to turn himself around so he ended up seeing Karly. Knowing, she couldn't get back up all the stairs in time, she ran out of his line of sight, but he just turned them around again where he could see her.

"If you love this girl so much," Zod growled, "you can mourn for her."

He shot a heat blast out of his eyes that backed Karly and another family up against the corner in the wall.

"Don't do this!" Clark screamed.

The heat blast got closer and closer to where Karly was. She looked up at Clark with fear in her eyes. He was torn between his own race and his feelings for her.

"Stop!" Clark yelled at the top of his lungs. "STOP!"

"Never."

Karly's heart hammered in her chest. She felt the heat warm up her skin more and more as the beam inched dangerously close to her. Seeing no other choice, Clark snapped Zod's neck. The force that resulted flung Karly against the wall, knocking her out.

Clark collapsed on his knees next to the body and let out an agonized scream that echoed off the walls of the station.

He looked over at Karly and saw that she was unconscious. Numbly, he slowly walked to her and knelt down beside her. Thankfully, she was still alive. He didn't know what he would do if Zod had succeeded in killing her. He slid one arm under her legs and the other under her back and gently lifted her up, then walked out of the train station. Once outside, he took one look around him at all the spectators who wondered just who he was and why he was carrying an unconscious woman. Without another thought, he took off into the sky with Karly in his arms.

When Karly came to, she was lying on some fresh grass and her head really hurt. The blurry images began to focus and she saw Clark's smiling face looking down at her. His hand softly stroked her head in a comforting manner.

"Clark," she said quietly. He gently helped her up off the ground. As the memories of what had just transpired came back to her, she looked up at him and noticed a lot of pain and hurt written on his face. "Are you okay?"

His façade completely fell apart and he fell to the ground in small sobs. Karly realized that he had killed off the last of his own kind for her, and he no doubt probably felt more alone than ever.

She got down on her knees next to him and enveloped him into a tight hug just to let him know that he was never going to be alone. Not while she was on this Earth.

He tightly clung onto her and she allowed him to have his moment.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.


	8. Clark and Karly

"Clark!" Karly called as she arrived at the Kent farm. He walked up to her and they hugged each other lightly. "How are you doing?"

"I'll survive," he answered. "What about you?"

"I'm ready for everything to just get back to normal. They found Dr. Hamilton. I just went to see him at the hospital. He's really, really banged up, but he's gonna be fine."

"I'm glad to hear that. I know you're close with him."

"He's a really good boss. So what are your plans now? Any ideas on an…alter ego?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to be a reporter at _The Daily Planet_."

Karly groaned. "You've got to be joking. Of all the professions out there, you choose the one I hate the most?"

"It's the best way for people to not get suspicious if I go somewhere dangerous and ask questions."

"I understand. Just…be careful of Lois Lane, will you? If she ever thinks anything is going on with you, she's not gonna stop until she finds out what that is."

"Lois? Isn't she the one who was in the ship with you?"

"Yeah. Thanks to her, I got severely injured and had to abandon my research for a time."

"But was it worth it in the long run? You got to meet a superhero."

Karly rolled her eyes and smiled. "I guess."

"Are you heading back to work?"

"Yeah, once Dr. Hamilton is discharged from the hospital, we're going back to work at DARPA."

"So we're going to be seeing less of each other then, aren't we?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure to visit Metropolis as much as I can." Karly's face grew warm as she saw his beautiful crystal blue eyes staring at her again. "I, uh, I better go."

She began to walk away from the Kent farm, not really wanting to leave.

"Karly," Clark said taking her hand and gently pulling her back.

Karly looked up into his warm eyes once more. "Why me?" she asked softly.

"Because you saw past what everyone else saw."

Ever so slowly, he put his hand on her neck and brought her lips on his. Karly's heart sky-rocketed to a million beats per second. The two of them stood in the middle of the yard sharing a beautiful soft kiss. The kiss was so much better than anything she had ever envisioned. Just like she always wanted, she knew Clark liked her for who she was.

When they released, Karly looked up at him and blushed furiously.

"I know you've been wanting to do that for a while," Clark said quietly, his forehead resting on hers.

"Oh, so you're a mind-reader too?"

"No, but it was written all over your face. And the fact that you're cheeks kept turning bright red. Much like they are now."

"Stupid emotions…" she groaned, completely embarrassed. She had no idea she had been so obvious the whole time she was with him.

Clark laughed kindly. "If it makes you feel any better, I've wanted to do that for a long time too."

"How long?"

"…Ever since I started feeling attracted to you in high school."

"You what?"

"You know how you said that you saw me all the time and you wanted to come talk to me? Well…I saw you too. Every single day. And after a while, I saw how beautiful you were becoming and how great of a person you were inside, and I kind of wanted to ask you out on a date."

"So why didn't you?"

"For the same reason you never talked to me. I saw you with all your friends and just figured you were happy enough with them."

"I guess fate finds a way to make things work."

"I've thought about you so many times since I last saw you at graduation. I wondered what became of you and how you were doing and if you married yet. To be honest, I never liked the idea of you with another guy."

"To be honest, I never really liked the idea of you with another girl," Karly laughed sheepishly.

"I was so surprised to see you recognized me when you were hurt. I thought that you had absolutely no idea who I was."

Karly laughed a little. She couldn't help but think about how the two of them were always looking at each other from afar, silently wishing they could speak to one another.

"You know, I remember thinking you were so much more beautiful than I remembered. I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to heal you."

"You and me both," she laughed lightly.

"I have to say, that wasn't exactly how I envisioned telling you the truth about me. And believe me, I rehearsed it a lot."

"You did?"

"Well, if I wanted to be in a relationship with you, I would've had to tell you eventually. I think that was another reason I never talked to you. I was scared about how you would react."

"If only we knew what was in store," she laughed again.

"We should've just talked in high school. It would've made things so much easier when all of this happened."

"I don't know. I think we did pretty good for an alien and a research technician. But…I do wish we'd talked then."

"No use harping on the past," Clark smiled. "Now we can only look to the future."

"And what do you see in this future?"

"I don't know. But it has you in it."

Karly smiled and blushed once more.

"You're blushing again," Clark laughed.

Karly put her hands to her gradually-getting-redder cheeks to hide the redness and looked up at him. "Well, at least you're better at hiding your feelings than I am."

"I've had a lot of practice."

The two of them looked at each other and Karly just wanted to kiss him again.

"So, uh, you said you had to go?" Clark asked awkwardly, breaking the silence.

Karly looked at him for a second and smiled. "You know, I think I can stay just a little longer."

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him again. When his hand brushed up against her skin, she recalled the first time she had touched him when he had saved her in the spacecraft.

At that time, she never could've expected to be where she was now. But that was okay. What was life without a little mystery?


End file.
